


simply meant to be

by imposterhuman



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Nightmare Before Christmas Fusion, Bucky has issues, Bucky needs a hug, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Making Up, Pepper Potts & Tony Stark Friendship, Pepper Potts Is a Good Bro, Tony Has Issues, Tony Needs a Hug, Tony has a heart, bucky as sally, tony as jack skellington
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:21:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21925099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imposterhuman/pseuds/imposterhuman
Summary: Tony scanned the crowd, looking for a certain ragdoll among the myriad of monsters. Snow blew into his eyes, and he narrowly avoided a snowball thrown by one of the spider-kids. At least they were having fun; Tony was practically vibrating with anxiety.“He’s waiting by the gates,” Pepper sidled up to him, her face turned to happy. Even she, the town’s biggest worrier, couldn’t resist the relief of an averted crisis. Christmas was saved, Tony was dead, what wasn’t there to be happy about? If he thought it enough, maybe it would feel true.“Is he, now?” Tony said casually, examining one of his finger bones. “Well, he-”Pepper didn’t even give him time to keep up the facade. “Stop playing dumb,” she cut him off bluntly. “It’s a bad look on you. Bucky’s waiting for you, and if you’d consider not sabotaging your own happiness for once in your existence, you’d go to him.”
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Comments: 5
Kudos: 114





	simply meant to be

**Author's Note:**

> ive had this idea forever and i finally managed to write a short little drabble for it, so enjoy!
> 
> EDIT: for those of you who havent seen nightmare (and you should, because its amazing), some basic context- jack (tony) gets bored with halloween and tries to steal christmas, even though sally (bucky) tells him its a terrible idea. everything goes wrong, but santa claus (sandy claws, in the movie) saves the day at the last minute. it ends with jack and sally getting together because they are idiots in love

Tony scanned the crowd, looking for a certain ragdoll among the myriad of monsters. Snow blew into his eyes, and he narrowly avoided a snowball thrown by one of the spider-kids. At least they were having fun; Tony was practically vibrating with anxiety. 

“He’s waiting by the gates,” Pepper sidled up to him, her face turned to  _ happy _ . Even she, the town’s biggest worrier, couldn’t resist the relief of an averted crisis. Christmas was saved, Tony was dead, what wasn’t there to be happy about? If he thought it enough, maybe it would feel true.

“Is he, now?” Tony said casually, examining one of his finger bones. “Well, he-”

Pepper didn’t even give him time to keep up the facade. “Stop playing dumb,” she cut him off bluntly. “It’s a bad look on you. Bucky’s waiting for you, and if you’d consider not sabotaging your own happiness for once in your existence, you’d go to him.”

“I’m not sabotaging anything,” he muttered waspishly. “Shut up.”

“Tony,” she softened, putting a hand on his arm. “Go to the gates. Talk to him. I think you’ll be surprised at what he has to say.”

“I’m going, I’m going,” Tony conceded, flashing her a toothy smile. “But not because you told me to. Because I was going to do it anyway.”

Pepper sighed, but there was a fondness in the mayor of Halloweentown’s voice. “Go,” she repeated firmly. 

Tony, being a smart skeleton who knew better than to cross her, went. 

There were some perks to being the Pumpkin King, he decided, when the townspeople moved out of the way to let him pass. It meant he got where he was going faster, though, with less time to stall and try to think of a way out of the inevitable “I told you so” that Bucky was going to hit him with.

It wasn’t as if Tony didn’t deserve it; Bucky  _ had  _ told him not to steal Christmas. Many times, in fact, and quite vocally. And Tony, so caught up in the fun of something new and exciting, had ignored him. Tony wouldn’t be surprised if Bucky never wanted to speak to him again. 

He wouldn’t like it, because he’d been harboring the smallest crush on the ragdoll for years, but he wouldn’t be surprised. 

He briefly considered turning around, going back to his Tower and wallowing in his shame until next Halloween. But Bucky deserved better than that from him. Tony trudged towards the town gates like a skeleton on its way to his own execution. This far out, the snow was untouched, save for one set of footprints that he followed. The heavily falling snow covered his own tracks; he supposed if Bucky murdered him, that was less evidence for the ragdoll to deal with later. 

It only took another minute until Tony was close enough to see Bucky leaning against the wrought iron of the gate. He was beautiful, Tony noticed, but then again, he always was. Tony took a deep breath, steeling himself.

“Bucky,” he greeted lamely, drawing the ragdoll’s attention. He winced at Bucky's killer glare. “Hey.”

Bucky turned towards him. “I told you so,” he said immediately, making a sharp motion with his arms. 

"You did," Tony conceded, ducking his head in shame. "You did tell me so."

“I  _ told you  _ that stealing Christmas was a bad idea," Bucky continued mercilessly. "And you ignored me, even though  _ I was right _ . Because look what happened! Another one of your schemes completely blew up. I was almost eaten by a bunch of bugs, for god’s sakes! Not to mention Sandy Claws, too. If he'd died, there'd have been no one to clean up your mess. And  _ you _ !”

Over the course of his rant, Bucky had drawn closer and closer, until they were basically nose to nose. Without any distance, Tony could see the red rims of Bucky’s eyes, and he felt even worse. He’d never wanted Bucky to cry over him.

“I know,” he whispered, reaching forward to cup Bucky’s cheek. “And I’m sorry. I screwed up.”

“God damn it, Tony, you almost  _ died _ ,” said Bucky, fierce. The fire left him all at once, and he nearly collapsed into Tony's touch. “I almost lost you. I can’t… You can’t do that to me.”

Tony shook his head. “I won’t,” he promised quickly. “This level of stupidity was a one-time thing, I promise.”

Bucky chuckled wetly. “No, it wasn’t,” he teased, a small smile blooming on his face. “But as long as we keep the stupid nonfatal, I think we’ll be okay. We can probably manage a safe Halloween, right?”

“We?” Tony repeated faintly. He couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice, as hard as he tried. He was still half expecting Bucky to poison him, if he was being honest. “You still want to be with me?”

Bucky looked up at the stars, just starting to twinkle in the sky. The snow had stopped, leaving it looking like any other night in Halloweentown. Bucky seemed to find what he was looking for in the sky, though, because there was something soft in his face when he turned back to Tony and nodded, something hopeful that warmed Tony’s bones. The ragdoll extended a hand, clutching Tony’s own tightly. 

“It’s plain as anyone can see,” he breathed, leaning forward to press a lingering kiss to Tony’s lips. It was sweet and chaste and if Tony had had a heart, he was pretty sure it would’ve stopped right then. Bucky pulled back with a dazzling smile, pressing another kiss to Tony’s forehead. He looked off into the stars again, and Tony did, too, just reveling in the moment. There was more to be discussed, and things they'd have to do to clean up the mess Christmas had made in Halloweentown, but none of those things mattered right then. Tony just breathed, standing with the ragdoll he loved.

He shot Bucky a sappy smile, finishing his phrase. “We’re simply meant to be.”

**Author's Note:**

> for all of you who saw my note on my last story, my date went really well!! i really like her and i hope we go out again, so fingers crossed!!!
> 
> comments and kudos make me smile :))
> 
> yell at me on tumblr [@imposter-human](https://imposter-human.tumblr.com/)


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